Schedule revealed for Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town

The Blitzboks will face Germany or Chile and the Springbok Women’s Sevens team are up against France in their opening encounters of the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town in September, it was confirmed on Thursday after the first match-ups for the showpiece were revealed.

The innovative ‘winner takes all’ knockout format means every match counts and teams will need to win every time they step on the pitch in order to become world champions.

ALSO READ: RWC Sevens in Cape Town – All 40 teams confirmed

The 16-team women’s tournament begins with the round-of-16 knockout matches, based on seedings.

Olympic champions and reigning RWC Sevens winners New Zealand play Colombia, while top seeds Australia take on debutants Madagascar, and hosts South Africa face Olympic silver medallists France.

The 24-team men’s competition begins with a qualification round involving teams seeded from nine to 24.

The winners of the qualification round will progress to the round of 16 where they will take on the top eight seeded teams, while the losers will go into the Bowl competition which will decide positions 17 to 24.

Hosts South Africa are top seeds in men’s tournament following a remarkable 36-match winning streak which saw them win six rounds of the World Series in a row across 2021-2022.

However, they will face stiff competition with Australia seeded second and double Olympic champions Fiji seeded third. New Zealand are the reigning men’s champions and are seeded fifth coming into the event.